Chapter Twenty-Three: Pariahs and Face

The forty-odd members of the security squad couldn't help but freeze when they caught sight of that figure standing under the streetlamp, blade in hand.

For some reason, a sudden realization welled up inside them: "This person is definitely not ordinary."

However, herd mentality quickly regained the upper hand: "Damn it, what's one person supposed to be? With our numbers, we can overwhelm and crush him."

The security captain, Li Jianguo, roared directly, "Get him! Break his limbs, and the boss will give us a bonus!"

Upon hearing the word "bonus," the security guards felt their hearts skip a beat.

Then, howling like tigers, they charged forward.

Over forty steel pipes struck out toward Shen Ye in unison.

Shen Ye looked at the forty-odd men and simply shook his head.

When he had first acquired the Swordsman System and reached level one, his physical strength was only three times that of an ordinary person. Back then, when fighting the core members of a pyramid scheme organization consisting of five or six people, he still had to be wary of whatever weapons they might be wielding.

Now, at level seven of the Swordsman System, his strength was nine times that of a normal human, and he didn't even deign to take these forty-some security guards seriously.

Especially holding the Tiger Zen Saber, a heavy weapon weighing thirty-six catties, mowing down mooks was even simpler. This weapon caused injury upon contact and sent people flying upon impact.

Watching the forty-odd rushing security guards armed with steel rods, Shen Ye's eyes remained devoid of sorrow or joy.

In his mind, he was simultaneously calculating:

How to knock down all forty-odd men with the least effort and the fastest speed.

The distance was closing.

At that moment, Shen Ye finally moved.

He reversed his grip on the Tiger Zen Saber, swinging the back of the blade outward with astonishing speed. The five men charging fastest at the front were all struck by the blunt edge of the blade and sent flying. Moreover, as they flew backward, they took down several more behind them, instantly dropping ten men in one go.

Then, executing three consecutive swift steps at a forty-five-degree angle to the front right, he slashed the back of the Tiger Zen Saber outward again. It directly struck six security guards, and the immense force sent all six of them—along with another four behind them—flying backward.

By this time, the momentum of the strike was spent, making a direct horizontal slash impossible. He quickly pulled back the blade with a reverse cut. A dark blade-light flashed past as the remaining security guards finally reacted, some raising their steel pipes to parry.

However, steel pipes were weapons weighing only a catty or two.

How could they possibly withstand a heavy weapon like the thirty-six-catty Tiger Zen Saber?

Whether the guards managed to parry or not, they were sent flying regardless; there was no difference.

At this point, the remaining security guards finally realized something was terribly wrong, and they scrambled to retreat.

Yet, Shen Ye’s figure instantly transformed into a hunting leopard, lunging forward with explosive speed.

He swung his blade in a vicious slash, and with a series of heavy thuds, six or seven more security guards were sent crashing to the ground.

Five strikes!

A total of just five strikes!

All these security guards had been brought down!

Ancient generals charging into enemy formations could do so as easily as turning over their hands.

Peerless generals like Zhao Zilong charged in and out of Changbanpo seven times, treating foot soldiers as nothing and fighting over thirty enemy generals single-handedly.

Guan Yu rode alone for thousands of li, breaching five passes and beheading six generals.

This was no exaggerated storytelling; it was cold, hard fact.

Although the current Shen Ye had not yet attained the full demeanor of Zhao Zilong or Guan Yunchang, he had already formed the embryonic stage of it.

...

Shouldering the pitch-black long saber, Shen Ye continued forward, leaving behind a trail of groans and cries of agony.

Soon, he reached the office building of the Feileng Chemical Plant. After beating down the group of guards and interrogating the security captain, he learned that their boss, Guo Dong, was currently working on the sixth floor of this very office building.

This was a building devoid of guards, seeing as the security force had just been thoroughly cleared out by Shen Ye.

Starting his ascent from the stairwell, it took him a mere ten seconds to reach the sixth floor.

With another single slash, he struck directly into the wooden door of the sixth floor office.

Crack!

The wooden door shattered.

Inside the spacious one-hundred-square-meter office, sitting in a chair behind the desk, was a fat man in his thirties, his entire body encased in rolls of blubber.

The fat man lit a cigar, completely unfazed by Shen Ye's arrival: "Are you the intruder this time?"

The fat man took a heavy drag and blew out a ring of smoke: "My security captain called just now to say that you took down more than forty men by yourself. That's not something within the capability of an ordinary person. You're a... martial artist, aren't you?"

Shen Ye remained silent.

The fat man chuckled. "A martial artist, that's fine then. You must know what stands behind me. This is the territory of the Special Task Force. I am the assistant to Sun Hongshan, deputy captain of the Eighth Squad, Second Platoon, C Division of the Special Task Force. Understand? Since you're a martial artist, you should know how things work. In the domestic environment, the Ten Great Sects and the Special Task Force share the world between them."

"And in the Liangguang region, there are no headquarters of any of the Ten Great Sects. There is only the Special Task Force and two branch offices of the Ten Great Sects."

"Here in the Liangguang region, there are three behemoths you must not provoke: the branch of the Beggar Sect, the branch of the South Sea Sword Sect, and C Division of the Special Task Force."

"You daring to provoke me means you've provoked the deputy captain of a Special Task Force squad, meaning you've provoked the Special Task Force itself. Are you courting death? Do you know what 'untouchable' means?"

The fat man's tone grew increasingly elevated as he slammed his desk, exuding an aggressive aura.

This was a threat.

Then, his expression relaxed into an easy smile. "However, we're all people of the pugilist world. If you're tight on cash, I can write you a check for fifty thousand, consider it helping a martial brother in a pinch."

This was offering a favor.

Threats coupled with favors, offering a convenient stepping stone for the other party to back down—he played this game with absolute familiarity.

At that exact moment, a secretary-like woman walked in, hurried to the fat man's ear, and whispered a report.

As the fat man listened, his expression shifted multiple times. Once the report was finished, he let out a hearty laugh. "Turns out we're all family who failed to recognize our own! So you're Shen Ye, the new recruit of the Eighth Squad! What a coincidence, like water flooding the Dragon King's temple. Good thing we didn't actually trade blows, otherwise it really would have become a laughingstock among fellow pugilists."

"What brings you here? Is it because of the pollution in Qingshi Town?"

"Actually, that's nothing at all. The locals with even the slightest bit of capability moved away long ago. The ones left behind are just a bunch of incapable plebeians."

"The lives of these plebeians are truly worthless."

"Some of them are even stupid enough to make a fuss and file reports. But I've suppressed all of it. Who are we? We are the Special Task Force."

"Don't let these plebeians damage the internal harmony of our Special Task Force."

"Fifty thousand was too stingy. Since you're one of us in the Special Task Force, I'll pull rank and grant you five million directly for you to spend, Shen Ye," the fat man said with a smile.

"Why are you spouting so much nonsense? Still the same words: I'm here to execute you," Shen Ye stated flatly.

The fat man's expression instantly turned somewhat unsightly. "You won't even give Deputy Captain Sun face?"

Shen Ye shook his head firmly. "My principle has always been: Evil must be slain!"

"Evil must be slain, my foot! Are you out of your mind? What kind of lunatic talks like that these days?" The fat man grew agitated. "Don't think that just because you're the grandson of Platoon Leader Shen you can act so high and mighty. Deputy Captain Sun has Lord Sundehai, the platoon's deputy commander, backing him up just as well. When it comes to backing, who's afraid of whom?" The fat man slammed the desk again.

"Give me some face, and let's just call it quits on this matter. I'll hand you a check for five million right now as a welcome gift. Though I'm not a formal operative, I am Deputy Captain Sun's right-hand man and I carry some weight," the fat man said in a deep voice.

Shen Ye didn't bother wasting any more words; he simply shook his head.

Killing intent pressed directly toward the fat man before him.

He had already checked him using the Eye of Justice just moments ago.

"Guo Dong, assistant to Sun Hongshan, deputy captain of the Special Task Force, primarily in charge of the Feileng Chemical Plant. Because of him, twenty-two residents of Qingshi Town died of cancer, and hundreds more contracted various diseases. He once raped and murdered two mother-and-daughter pairs, hiding their corpses in the top-floor office to turn them into specimens. Sin Value: Eighty-eight."

A sin value this high made it even greater than that of Beggar Lu.

How could such a figure not be executed?

Furthermore, after slaying this man, he would eventually have to hunt down Deputy Captain Sun Hongshan of the Special Task Force.

However, he heard that Sun Hongshan was currently in Fusang, so that would have to be postponed.

(Second update.)